Automatic musical instrument.



Patented July 2, |90I. E. DE KLEIST.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Application filed June 18, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 677,769. Patented luly'2, |9l. E. DE KLEIST.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Application led June 18, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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U'Nirnn STATES PATENT Opium-3.

EUGENE DE KLEIST, OF NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters :Eatent No. 677,769, dated July 2, 1901.

Application filed June 18, 1900. Serial No. 20,678. (No model.)

To II/ZZ urli/0in it 77mg concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE DE KLEIsT, a citizen of the United States, residing at North Tonawanda, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in AutomaticMusical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a self-playing pian or similar instrument in which the soundproducing devices are operated by pneumatics controlled by valves which in turn are operated from a rotary pin-barrel.

The principal objects of my invention are to simplify the construction and reduce the cost of such instruments and to provide a pneumaticactuating mechanism which is prompt and sensitive in action and not liable to bind or get out of order and in which leakage or waste of air is reduced to a minimum, thus rarefying the air in the pneumatics to the maximum degree, obtaining a prompt and powerful action of the same, and requiring correspondingly less power to operate them.

In the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of my improved piano. Fig. 2 is a similar section, on an enlarged scale, of the exhaust-chamber or wind-chest and adjacent parts, showing the vent of one of the pneumatics open. Fig. 3 is a similar section of the same parts and the pin-barrel, showing one of the exhaust-valves open and the corresponding vent-valve closed. Fig. 4E is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section in Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front view of the exhaust-chamber, the vent-valves, and their actuating rods or stickers, one of the vent-valves andthe corresponding iiexible tube being omitted.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several fgures.-

A is the case of the instrument; b, one of the strings; h', the corresponding hammer, and b2 the vertically-movable,wippen of the same hammer.

The piano-action forms no part of my invention and may be of any suitable or wellknown construction.

The wippen of each hammer is operated by a motor-pneumatic C, consisting, preferably, of a small bellows the hinged lower board of 'and vertical rods K.

which is connected with the wippenby a vertical rod or sticker c. These motorpneumatics are arranged in horizontal rows below the pian o-action and secured to the under side of longitudinal supporting-bars D, as shown in Fig.`1.

VE is a horizontal wind-chest or exhaustchamber arranged lengthwise in the case A and connected by a pipe e with a suction bellows or pump F, whereby the air is exhausted from said chamber. This bellows may be operated by an electric motor F or other suitable means.

g represents a series ot' narrow valvechambers arranged side by side above the exhaustchamber E and communicating therewith by ports or passages g', which are controlled by upwardly-opening valves g2, arranged in said valve-chambers. Each of the motor-pneumatics O is connected with one of said valvechambers by a duct or passage h, communieating with the top of the valve-chamber, so that when the corresponding valve g2 is opened the air is exhausted from said Valvechamber and the passage h and the motorpneumatic connected therewith, thereby collapsin g the pneumatic and raising the sticker c and actuating the corresponding hammer b or equivalent member. The exhaust-valves g2 are operated from a pin-barrel I by horizontal levers J, arranged above the barrel,

The barrel is journaled horizontally in the front portion of the piano-case and driven byV any suitable means and is provided with the' usual pins and staples t' t', which actuate the levers J. The latter are pivoted between their ends to the under side of a longitudinal supporting-bar; and are provided at their rear ends with vertically-adjustable screws or stems j', which bear upon the upper ends of the rods K and depress the same when the corresponding lever is rocked. The rods K pass'through openings formed in the top of the valve-chambers g, and their lower ends bear upon the rear arms of the exhaust-valves g2, soV that when a rod is depressed it opens the corresponding valve. The exhaust-valves are automatically closed by springs lo.

Each valve-chamber gis provided at its top with a vent tube or passage ZA for admitting the external atmosphere to said chamber and IOO the motor-pneumatic and allowing the latter to expand. The admission of air into these vent-tubes is controlled by valves Z', applied to the lower portion of the rods K and adapted to close against the open upper ends of said tubes when the rods are depressed. The ventvalves Z' are vertically adjustable on their rods, and for this purpose the lower portion of each rod preferably consists of a screwthreaded stem Z2, as shown, and the vent-valve is provided centrally with a screw-threaded opening which en gages with said stem, so that the valve is adjusted toward or from the upper end of the vent-tube Z by turning` it on its stem. These valves are located so closely to the upper ends of the vent-tubes that they close the same and exclude the atmosphere as soon as the exhaust-valves are opened or begin to open, so that the leakage of the atmosphere into the valve-chambers when an exhaust-valve is open is reduced to a minimum, while at the same time a vent of suflcient size is provided for the atmosphere to insure a prompt expansion of the motor-pneumatic as soon as the corresponding exhaustvalve is closed. By this construction an ef- 'fective vacuum is obtained and the pneumatics are quickly and forcibly collapsed, and as the leakage of the atmosphere through the vent-tube is but slight and momentary practically the full power of the suction-bellows F is obtained, and the instrument can be driven by a comparatively small motor.

The pins and staples of the barrel I are made of different heights or lengths in a wellknown manner, those pins which are arranged closely together and produce rapid passages of a piece of music being comparatively short and effecting a shorter stroke of the valveactuating levers J than the longer pins. The space between the upper ends of the venttubes Z and their valves Z when open is less than the stroke of the levers J, produced by the long pins of the barrel, and to compensate for the variable stroke of these levers and the rods K, which carry said vent-valves, the vent-tubes are made flexible or yielding, so that they are free to collapse, more or less, and accommodate themselves to the irregular movements of the levers.

Z3 represents springs which are arranged in the vent-tubes Z and which serve to expand the same.

The motor-pneumatics in expanding tend to exhaust the air from the passages h and valve-chambers g, causing the vent-valves Z to adhere to the ends of the vent-tubes Z and interfering with the action of the instrument. To prevent this, each rod K is provided with a return-spring m, which lifts the rod to its normal position. immediately after having been depressed and released by the corresponding lever AJ, thereby positively withdrawing the vent-valve from the vent-tube. This return-spring is applied to the upper end of the valve-rod and bears at its lower end upon a stationary bar m' and at its upper end against a transverse pin m2 of the rod. Each of the latter is provided below the supporting-bar with a stop-pin m3, which limits the upward stroke of the rod by striking said supporting-bar.

The operation of my improved instrument is as follows: Upon setting the suction-bel lows F in motion the same produces a partial vacuum -in the exhaust-chamber E. Vthen a pin or staple of the barrel I rocks a'levor J, the latter depresses the corresponding rod K, which in turn opens the corresponding exhaust-valve g2 and causes the vent-valve Z to close the vent-tube Z. The atmosphere is now shut off from the corresponding valvechamber and the air is exhausted from said chamber and the motor-pneumatic C connected therewith, thereby contracting the latter and causing the same to actuate the corresponding hammer Zu and producing the tone represented by the same. As soon as the actuated lever J clears the pin of the barrel the corresponding rod K is raised by its spring m, thereby opening the vent-valve Z and allowing the exhaust-valve to close. The suction-bellows F is now cut oil' from said motor-pneumatic and the atmosphere is permitted to enter the same through the venttube Z, Valvechamber g, and the duct ZL, causing the pneumatic to expand and allowing the hammerbperating devices to return to their normal position. In practice there must be a slight play or clearance between the triplevers J and the rods K in order to allow the exhaust-valves g2 to close fully, and a slight clearance is also desirable between the valves g2 and the headed lower ends of the valve-stems Z2, which open said valves, so that the normally open vent-valves Z are closed or begin their closing movement a moment in advance of the opening movement of the exhaust-valves for the purpose of preventing leakage of air through the vent-tubes as much as possible. As heroinbefore stated, the inotor-pneumatics C in expanding tend to produce a partial vacuum in the passages Zt and the valve-chambers g, which causes the vent-valves Z to adhere to the upper ends of the vent-tubes Z. NVhen this occurs, the next pin of the barrel I, which trips the corresponding lever J, has no effect upon the corresponding hammer ZJ and the music is imperfectly rendered. The spring Zt of each exhaust-valve causes the stein Z2 of the ventvalve to rise in closing said exhaust-valve; but owing to the above-described clearance between the parts the exhaust-valve closes fully before raising said stem sufficiently to open the vent-valve. In order to insure the opening of the latter under all conditions, the rod K is provided with the spring m, which acts upon the vent-valve independently of the closing-spring Zt of the exhaustvalve. The spring m lifts the corresponding rod K away from the exhaust-Valves g2, allowing the latter to close firmly, and as soon as the nger of the lever J clears a pin or IOO IIO 

